Rapid weight loss

[MayLeonis]

Hello, during past three weeks our chickens have been losing weight rapidly. I want to ask for opinions and advices on how we feed them and what might caused it.

I'm home only for weekends due to living in a dormitory and the last week when I was home only one of our chickens was definitely underweight what we noticed earlier. We (me and my parents who take care of chickens when I'm not in the town) thought that giving them more fatty food will help. I hug and hold each of them a lot so when I got home yesterday I noticed that my chickens who were just fine and normal a week ago now are underweight and I can clearly feel the bone on their stomachs. That's really worrying and my mom noticed that too but I didn't know it was that bad.

My chickens forage everyday for at least 5 five hours, they’ve got access to grass and other greens, their fed contains 50% corn and 50% wheat. They’ve got access to the grains and fresh water all day. When we noticed that they’re losing weight we started to give them cottage cheese and pumpkin seeds more often (~every two days). They get random treats from our kitchen everyday, that includes all sorts of fruits, vegetables, non-salty pastas, groats (mainly millet), hard boiled eggs. Every weekend I add Acidomid to their water.

For the past month the whole flock was treated because of one sick hen, I don't know if this information is important but just in case I'm adding a short history of it:
There are three vets that we can contact but none treats poultry other than table birds. When my hen had breathing attacks and almost died (twice) one of them said that it was protozoa and we treated our flock (for 3 days) with Sodium Sulfaclozinehe that he gave us. This hen had two more attacks few days a week after and another vet instructed us to treat the whole flock with antibiotics for a week (he was told about previous treatment). Two weeks ago the hen had the last breathing attack which was lethal. We dewormed them after her death.

Tldr; they were treated with Sodium Sulfaclozinehe for three days, a week later with antibiotics for 7 days and two weeks later dewormed.

Poops are normal, they've got appetite, they're molting, they act normal and lively, they aren't crowded, there are only 9 of them and they forage most of the time. I don't know why they're losing weight and what to do to prevent them from further rapid weight loss. Any ideas, thoughts, advices? Sorry for my English and thank you in advance.

 

[chickens really]

Not a proper balance in nutrition I'm thinking?
Do you not feed a chicken feed?..Go get a Grower/Finisher feed and possibly they have coccidiosis?.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Think about what has changed that might cause them to lose weight over the past three weeks, if they really are. Since they forage for so much of their food, has the change of seasons seriously affected what foods are available? I doubt it but you are looking at them, I am not. Since they were doing fine on that diet before fall hit I'd be a bit reluctant to change the diet severely unless you see something that has changed. Some people add fats to their diet in cold weather to give them more energy, I don't. If I made any change to their diet I'd think about increasing the protein or eliminating some low protein treats. What we call Back Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) is fairly high in protein and as the name implies, it also has oils. I would not overdo it because of the oil but it is a pretty good treat.

Since they are molting, are you sure they are actually losing body weight? Especially with birds that have thick feathers I'm sometimes amazed at how small that actual body is under the feathers. I would give this serious thought, the difference can be significant and hopefully is all it is.

Since that one hen had problems it is possible some disease is going through your flock. How did she act between attacks? Was she normal like your current ones are or did she act sick? I'm not an expert on respiratory diseases but would think they would not be totally normal as yours seem to be.

Good luck!

 

[coach723]

Not sure what feed you are using, but I would switch to a pellet or crumble that is in the 18-20% protein range. It sounds like they may not be getting enough protein, and there may be other deficiencies as well. If your feed is whole pieces of grain and corn, they will pick out that which they like and leave the rest, pelleted or crumbled feed prevents them from picking and choosing. Chickens love corn, but eating only that is not going to provide the nutrition they need to be healthy, a diet that is 50% corn is too much. Having nutritional deficiencies is going to impact their health over all, and weaken them leaving them more susceptible to other illnesses. They will still be able to find things they want free ranging, but offering a more balanced feed for the rest may make all the difference. Make sure you have oyster shell available all the time for calcium for any hens that may be laying. Put it in a separate feeder available all the time, those that need it will take what they need. Molt requires more protein to grow feathers, so if they are molting that may have triggered more weight loss while they are trying to grow new feathers, which may have made it more noticeable. It's not uncommon for birds to lose some weight during molt, but if the feed isn't adequate it will be a bigger problem.